1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a speaker device for a mobile terminal that improves the sound pressure level, articulation and acoustic distortion rate of output sound, and reinforces output of midrange and bass tones to reproduce the original sound as accurately as possible.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, mobile terminals refer to handheld devices used for wireless communications between users or between a user and a service provider through a base station. Mobile terminals can offer various functions or services, including voice communication, short message service, mobile banking, TV broadcasts, online games, video-on-demand and various content transmissions.
Mobile terminals can be classified into a bar type, a flip type and a folder type according to their shapes. A bar-type mobile terminal has a single housing provided with data input/output means such as a communication circuit, a microphone and an earpiece. A flip-type mobile terminal has a bar-shaped housing and a flip cover rotatably connected to the housing. A folder-type mobile terminal has a pair of housings rotatable about each other and having input/output means properly distributed thereon. Recently, new designs with improved portability and convenience, such as a slide type, have been launched to meet the diverse needs and tastes of users.
Mobile terminals have gone beyond merely being telephones or short message devices, and now integrate additional functions, such as games, music, motion picture file transmission, multimedia services and digital multimedia broadcasting (“DMB”) services.
Even before the commercialization of multimedia and DMB services, a thin film transistor (“TFT”), instead of a monochromatic liquid crystal display device, was used for a display unit of a mobile terminal to produce high-quality color pictures. The TFT display unit has a high capacity sufficient to offer multimedia and DMB services to the mobile users.
To provide a speaker device suitable for the multimedia and DMB services, a conventional mobile terminal includes additional speaker units for outputting stereo sound, as well as a speaker unit for outputting a received voice or a bell sound.
However, such additional speaker units cannot fully exert their capacity due to the limited space within a mobile terminal. The limited space reduces the sound pressure output and articulation level, and increases the acoustic distortion rate. Because the speaker units are mounted in the limited space of the mobile terminal, the sound output from the speaker units cannot be accurately reproduced in the low bass range, which does not meet the users' need to enjoy the original sound reproduced as accurately as possible when using multimedia services or viewing DMB programs.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved speaker device that accurately reproduces sound in a compact mobile terminal.